The present invention relates to automatically controlled cutting equipment of the type used to generate multiple pattern pieces from a layup of sheet material. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a labeling apparatus which is utilized in conjunction with the cutting machine to apply information labels to stacks of pattern pieces as they are cut in the layup.
It is well known to cut multiple pattern pieces of the same size and shape from a layup of sheet material. A cutting machine suitable for this purpose is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,492 entitled Apparatus for Working on Sheet Material and having the same assignee as the present invention. In this machine, a vacuum table is employed to hold a layup in position as a reciprocating cutting blade is lowered into cutting engagement with the sheet material and translated along a line of cut defining the periphery of a pattern piece. After the periphery has been completely circumscribed by the cutting blade, a stack of similarly shaped pieces is left on the table separated from the rest of the layup. The stack of cut pattern pieces is eventually removed from the cutting table in loose form or the pieces may be tied or joined together as a bundle by apparatus such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,349 entitled Apparatus for Forming Bundles of Sheet Material and also having the same assignee as the present invention.
The bundles of pattern pieces are generally removed from the cutting room and taken to a sewing room where various pieces are assembled as wearing apparel, upholstery, or other finished products. It will be understood that unless the individual bundles of pattern pieces are marked in some manner, the only means of identifying the pieces is their individual shapes. Recognition of certain pattern pieces would be difficult especially when only slight differences exist between similar pieces for articles of different sizes. For this and other reasons, it has been a practice in the past to mark the bundles of pattern pieces in the cutting room while the pieces are still on the cutting table, and such marking has been done by means of pens or other writing instruments attached to the tool carriage of the cutting machine. The same automatic controller which generates the commands for moving the cutting tool relative to the sheet material in a cutting operation also provides the commands for moving the writing instrument relative to a sheet material in a marking operation.
The type of information which is desirable on each bundle of pattern pieces is quite varied and changes from time to time even though the shape of a pattern piece remains the same. For example, in addition to size, style and other information, it is desirable to indicate routing of the pattern pieces through various manufacturing stages. All of this information is difficult to apply with writing instruments attached to the tool carriage of the machine due to the relatively large scale at which such machines are designed to operate. Such information, can however, be provided in a printed label or tag. The label may have several different sections which are separated by perforations to permit portions of the label to be removed from the bundled pattern pieces for record keeping purposes.
It is, accordingly, a general object of the present invention to provide apparatus which applies information labels to stacks of sheet material cut from a multi-plied layup. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a printer which cooperates with the applying apparatus to generate printed information on the labels before they are applied to the sheet material.